User blog:Brady26/Oyaviggaton
Stepping onto the ice shelf, the group ascended a set of steps carved into the ice, bringing along Petyr, a member of the crew that spoke the language of he Ice Hunters. Passing ten frozen corpses in a wall of ice, they spotted a village ahead of them, dogs barking in alert. The townspeoples came out, around 50 people surrounding the group, Petyr translating for the party, the shaman warning them of the many monsters in the region and that they would risk destroying their way of life by being there. When the party mentioned that they sought Old White Death, the shaman claimed that dragon had been slain long ago, telling a tell of the Frost Giants hunting the great beast, but Petyr advised Darion that the details didn't make sense, as the Frost Giant group that she spoke of had been wiped out long ago. When Darion accused her of lying, the shaman said that the party could stay if they defeated the village champion, Orcaheart. Deciding that Rack could defeat the warrior, they dueled, with Rack delivering many striking blows to the man before finally, with a few heavy swings of his axe, Orcaheart triumped. The shaman told the group to leave as they had lost, which they did, heading back to the Frostskimmr, which was waiting for them at the ice shelf. On the boat, the group came up with a quick plan to sneak into the village and kidnap one of the leaders and interogate them. The boat departed, agreeing to pick them up in the morning, when the Ice Hunters that were watching them came down to demand they leave, only Kadmos being able to understand the specifics of what they were saying but being unable to comminicate back, the Hunters retrieved the rest of the warriors in the tribe to drive off the intruders. The warriors charged the group, intending to force them into the waters of the Sea of Moving Ice. Acting first, Barion stepped forward from behind Darion who had been shielding him, and casted the fireball ''spell, immolating the tribal warriors as they charged, with only Orcaheart surviving but being knocked unconcious. In shock, Darion seized Barion and beat him unconcious, bringing him and Orcaheart back into the village where the children were hiding. Exploring the largest structure in the village, Kadmos found a chute leading deeper into the iceberg, which Rack explored, finding a sick Ice Hunter, Mend-Nets curled up alone, a larder and a group of kobolds moving through the ice caves chatting amongst themselves, Rack hiding as they passed. Realising this was obviously a lair of the white dragon, he returned to the group and explained what he had found. Deciding that they still had a job to do, the group descended into the iceberg, Kadmos moving to inspect a hole that the kobolds had been throwing things down. As he did so, by chance Maccath the Crimson came wandering into the room, looking for paper and ink, thinking she was kobold, Darion dashed into the room ready to incapacitate them and find out about the cave. Instead he encountered Maccath, who wasn't very surprised to see a giant armoured man in the cave. Taking them back to her room, Maccath explained what this place was and what she had been doing, also that the ''draakhorn ''had been moved by cultists half a year ago. Agreeing to aid the group in their effort to slay the dragon, she gave them magical gifts of a ''Ring of Resistance to Cold and two Arrows of Dragon Slaying. Descending into the lair the party readied themselves to fight. Atop an ice pillar in the darkness, Arveiaturace, the white dragon with the bones of her dead rider Meltharond on her back appraoched them as they landed. She taunted them, asking whether they were theives there to steal the treasures within the iceberg. After speaking with them, she asked whether they could bring back the dead, which they claimed they could, with the help of their allies, she agreed to let them and Arauthator have their fun, whilst she left with a piece of Darion's armour. Barion however knew that Meltharond was a terrible mage that killed many people, and that he would be a dangerous person to return to life, but the group decided to deal with that problem when it arrived. The group advanced into the cave, triggering a few traps as they approached Arauthator, who fought with them, but as they were rested and had avoided many of the minions of the dragon they unleashed much of their power against it. Wounding it, the monster fled after a series of blows by Rack, driving it to flee underwater and away from the iceberg, leaving his treasure unprotected. The group plundered the cavern, taking the magical artefacts stolen from Telinor and the piles of gold and jewels the dragon had hoarded. With Barion not wishing to talk to the party, they decided to attune themselves to every item in the hoard to understand its properties whilst they hacked at the ice to get the frozen gold. Every item had many powerful effects, and Darion lamented the fact that they had agreed to return them all to Telinor on their return. It was not until Rack attuned to the Orb of Green Dragonkind that things turned worse for the party, as Rack came under the influence of the Orb, the dragon's spirit within compelling him to bring Telinor under the domain of Tiamat, by bringing it to the centre of Telinor. The group then ascended back into the caves above, joining up with Maccacth the Crimson. After a brief arguement when Darion clarified that she would not be allowed to keep the research she sought, which Maccacth protested but eventually agreed to if it meant leaving. They left the village, Darion leaving a thousand gold pieces in the snow as they returned to the ''Frostskimmr, ''beginning the journey home. As they travelled Maccacth tried to decode the research but decided she would need more time and resources to complete the task, Darion promising to request that she get to use the notes to finish her work. When they reached the Mouth of the Green River, a tree falling to make a dock for the vessel, Barion turned himself invisible and made a dash for the nearby village, Darion still attuned to a ''Rod of Alertness ''they had taken from the hoard, saw and pursued him, with the rest of the group and Maccath the Crimson following after. In the village at the Mouth, Barion summoned a Barlgura to distract the party whilst he made his escape. Rack appraoched him with his enhanced speed and used the power of the Orb to cast the ''fog cloud ''spell to cover him, doing his best to hinder Darion's pursuit. Calling out to Maccath, offering her the research if she helped with capturing Barion, the tiefling attempted to aid them, but could offer little assistance as the fog was obscuring the battlefield. Eventually, Barion fled into the woods, with Darion in hot pursuit, Rack easily able to keep up with both of them with his enhanced speed, doing his best to distract and hinder Darion as Barion fled. Losing him and catching sight of him again Barion reached the bank of the Green River and dove in, hoping to hide in the water. When Darion arrived he could not see where Barion might have fled, and gave up the search, deciding that Telinor could find him easier than he could. Returning to the village in silence, Darion and Rack found a mildly wounded Kadmos cleaning his sword having slain the demon. Darion reported that there was a rogue mage in the forest to a treant and some druids who went into the forest to investigate. An out of breath Maccath the Crimson told Darion that with the right tools she could scry Barion if that would help find him. Darion agreed, his thoughts turning to the dark turn their path had taken. Barion lay on his back as the currents dragged him along, staring up at the enchanted sky above the forest, his mind drifting as he floated to fates unknown. Category:Blog posts